Lajim Ukin

Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Lajim Ukin (15 June 1956 – 29 August 2021) was a Malaysian politician.

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Beaufort constituency in Sabah from 2008 to 2013, the Deputy Minister of Transport from 2008 to 2009, and the Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government from 2009 to 2012 in the federal Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Lajim previously served as a Deputy Chief Minister as well as a state cabinet minister for five terms from 1986 until 2004. He was also the Leader of the Opposition in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly from 2013 to 2016. Lajim was the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) supreme council member and also served as Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) executive chairman at the time of his death in 2021.

Political career
Before entering federal politics, Lajim was a prominent figure in Sabah state politics. He was one of the pioneer founding members of the United Sabah Party (PBS) in 1986 before defecting to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) eight years later in 1994. He later served as Deputy Chief Minister in the Sabah government.

Lajim was elected to Parliament in the 2008 election, as a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in the seat of Beaufort. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister for Transport, moving to the portfolio of Housing and Local Government in 2009. In July 2012, he renounced his official positions in UMNO to align himself with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition. This resulted in the revocation of his appointment as a deputy minister. He recontested his parliamentary seat of Beaufort in the 2013 election on a People's Justice Party (PKR) ticket, but was defeated. While losing his federal seat, he won the election for the Sabah State Legislative Assembly seat of Klias. He became the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly.

On 2 October 2016, Lajim resigned from PKR along with two other Pakatan Harapan (PH) assemblymen. He has stated his intention to form a new Sabah-based party and ally with the former Sabah UMNO leader, Shafie Apdal. He later decided to establish a separate party from Shafie, known as Sabah People's Hope Party (PHRS), which was finally approved by Registrar of Societies (RoS) on 25 October 2016. PHRS was dissolved to let its party members be absorbed into the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) in 2019. After being absorbed, he became BERSATU Sabah elections director before being appointed as one of the BERSATU Supreme Council members for the 2019-2022 triennial party term.

Personal life
Lajim was married to Normilah Siong until his death in 2021.

In early 2017, Lajim was injured after falling from a train car on the way to attend a wedding reception. He was then referred to a local traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner or "sinseh" and was advised to rest for one week.

In 2021, Lajim was screened and tested positive for COVID-19 at Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu on 1 August before his admission to KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital on 13 August. With a history of chronic illnesses, including a kidney transplant and heart ailment, he was later placed under an induced coma after his health deteriorated on the afternoon of 24 August. On 29 August at 6:23 am Malaysian time, Lajim, aged 65 years old died due to COVID-19 pandemic complications. His remains were then brought to his hometown at Kampung Kebatu, Beaufort, where he was laid to rest in the local Muslim cemetery.

Honours of Malaysia

 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia :
 * MY Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara (Defender of the Realm) - SMN.svg Companion of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (JMN) (1996)
 * Sabah :
 * MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - PGDK.svg Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (PGDK) – Datuk (1990)
 * MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - SPDK.svg Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (SPDK) – Datuk Seri Panglima (1998)
 * Malacca :
 * MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca.svg Knight Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DCSM) – Datuk Wira (2010)